Q2 Shopping Index: Phones on Track to Be Most Trafficked Digital Shopping Device

According to the Q2 Shopping Index, phones accounted for 94% of the increase in visits and 74% of the increase in basket creation. Even more eye-popping - 47% of the growth in orders was solely from phones. This is not browsing but actual shopping. Simply put, retailer must think shopper - mobile shopper - first.

The latest Demandware Shopping Index, which covers Q2 2015, is our third quarterly release. What continues to grab my attention is shopper’s relentless shift towards phones. The shoppers are speaking, and by the end of this year, phones will be the most trafficked digital shopping device.

Here are the key mobile findings:

Phones are the growth: We looked at the growth of the key metrics across digital commerce and asked ‘which device deserves credit for the increase?’ The answer was clear. Phones accounted for 94% of the increase in visits and 74% of the increase in basket creation. Even more eye-popping – 47% of the growth in orders was solely from phones. This is not browsing but actual shopping. Simply put, retailer must think shopper-first – and that means optimizing their sites for traffic from phones.

Phones are stealing share from computers AND tablets: Previously, we’ve revealed that phones are increasing their share of orders and traffic by taking share from computers. In the second quarter, the increases continued and even chipped away at the order share held by tablets. There is no distribution of share – phones are picking up share from the other leading devices. Tablets are showing signs of maturity; while they currently hold a 15% share of orders, this is very much at risk as shoppers continue to turn to phones, and the line between larger-screen phones and tablets continues to blur.

The operating system battle is not as one-sided as you think: We re-examined the order share and traffic share of the leading touch-based operating systems, iOS and Android. iOS trumps Android when tablets and phones are both factored in, but when we look at phones alone, the story is more interesting. Globally, iOS holds a 15-point lead over Android in order and traffic share, 57% to 42%.

iOS devices snag a higher average order value over Android, $107 to $96. In certain countries, like Germany, Android actually leads the order and traffic share. On the flip side, luxury apparel shoppers clearly prefer the iPhone, as their share is much more skewed to iOS. What’s the lesson for retailers? When designing experiences for specific operating systems, like native applications for phones, know your shopper. Is your shopper spending $50 or $5,000 on your products? If you simply put an “I’ first, you risk alienating nearly half of your addressable market.

The data has spoken; shopping is on mobile and shoppers are adopting the phone to buy. Retailers must think of the shopper’s context when conceptualizing and designing the shopping experience, and that of course means traversing the shopper journey on phones.

The Demandware Shopping Index analyzes activity of over 200 million shoppers worldwide to identify trends and opportunities for retailers to elevate the shopper experience and grow revenue. The Demandware Shopping Index measures the pace of digital shopping growth, assigning a numerical value to crucial shopper metrics.

The shopping index is not indicative of Demandware’s operational performance or its reported financial metrics including GMV growth and comparable GMV growth.